"I can't believe he did that in front of you" her mother told her.
"I hope he dies in surgery"
"We all do, honey" she said.
"He won't though. He'll escape death again. Like he always does"
"Maybe his luck has run out" she said, "Natalie, I think you should head up to bed. You look exhausted and –"
Like she'd be able to sleep, she thought. But her mom was just trying to take care of her.
"Yeah, maybe that's a good idea" Natalie said and headed up to her room.
Being in there made her want to flee. This space she'd shared with Jared for so long, being in there was painful without him. He'd always said they'd move into their own house someday, but he loved being a part of her family. Now that he was gone, she didn't know what she wanted to do with this room.
She'd fled from it before. She had the urge to do so again. She grabbed her phone.
She'd worked herself up to this point. She wasn't even sure when she'd decided she was coming here. Somewhere between leaving her room and getting in her car.
He opened the door.
She slapped him.
"Why did you let him die" she yelled at him, "My husband died and it's your fault" she hit him over and over.
Why did he let her do that? It was very much not his fault that Jared had died. But Mitch was locked up in California and she had no one to yell at, so she yelled at him. He didn't flinch. Maybe that was why she had gone. Years had gone by, but she knew running to him was her best bet. He'd let her be angry, sad, irrational, rational. He'd given her a drink and let her speak her mind. He didn't try to tell her what to do or how to feel.
She knew it was his own grief that had made him that way, but she was grateful all this time later, he was still the same man who'd been there for her the last time she'd lost her husband.
She sent the text.
He sat at his desk while the CSI cleaned up his office. IA would come in the morning, and it looked like Lawrence was going to pull through the surgery. He wasn't worried about him putting Natalie in jail but he was worried about the kind of torture she'd be put through if he did get better and go free.
As the techs were leaving, he heard a knock on the door. He ran a hand over his face.
"Come in"
Marty stepped into this office, "hey" she said, "I heard you had a crazy day"
"Yeah" he said.
"Are you okay? Watching someone try to kill himself-"
"I wish he had" he said, "How did you hear?"
"All the buzz at the hospital" she said.
"Yeah, what's the word?"
"He made it through surgery"
He looked down.
"John, I think I overreacted before. Natalie- the history is hard to ignore but, she's grieving and you two have been through a lot together-"
John heard his phone go off on his desk.
"I'm sorry- it might be an update-" he said and he grabbed it, seeing the text from Natalie.
'I'm going out of my mind. Can I meet you at Rodi's?'
"John?" Marty said.
"I have to go" he said.
"To the hospital?"
"No- it's umm-"
"It's Natalie. And you're going" she said, "I don't know why I bothered coming here"
John didn't stop her from leaving. He knew how it looked to her. Even though he understood, he couldn't change this. Natalie needing his help was something he simply couldn't ignore. He headed towards Rodi's.
